Archive for the ‘Fifth Amendment’ Category
Can You Go to Jail for Refusing to Testify?
In any court proceeding, witness testimony can be an important source of evidence.
It follows, then, that courts take calling witnesses pretty seriously. How seriously? Seriously enough that those who refuse to testify can, in some situations, be held in contempt of court, which may result in penalties including fines and even jail time.
What are the rules for testifying in court and how can you keep yourself from running afoul of them?
Fifth Amendment Right against Self-Incrimination
One person who can generally never be forced to testify in court is a criminal defendant. Under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." This means that a defendant that is charged with a crime can choose whether or not to testify in court. However, if the defendant does choose to testify, he generally cannot choose which questions to answer.
The Fifth Amendment also extends to other witnesses in criminal and civil proceedings; any time a witness' testimony might incriminate him or her in a crime, the witness can choose not to testify by invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. Unlike a criminal defendant, however, these witnesses can generally invoke their Fifth Amendment rights selectively during their testimony.
Being Subpoenaed to Testify
However, witnesses other than criminal defendants may also be compelled to testify in the form of a subpoena issued by a court. A subpoena may request a person to testify, provide documents, or bring other evidence to a court. If a person fails to obey the subpoena, they can be held in contempt and subject to fines, jail, or both.
There are several other types of witness who may be excused from testifying, even if they are subpoenaed:
Learn more about what happens in the courtroom and get some general tips for navigating a court proceeding at FindLaw's Learn About the Law section on Going to Court.
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Can You Go to Jail for Refusing to Testify?
GOP fumes as Lois Lerner talks to press but snubs Congress
For Congress, Lois Lerner pleaded the Fifth, but for Politico, the embattled ex-IRS director gave a breezy biographical sketch that included her insistence that she had nothing to apologize for and that she did nothing wrong. Now Republicans are fuming.
Her decision to make unsubstantiated claims to a media outlet while claiming Fifth Amendment protections from answering Congress questions is telling, said House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, who headed up a panel to quiz Ms. Lerner about her agencys delay of nonprofit applications to tea party groups, Politico reported.
She appears to have great confidence that her allies in the Obama Administration will not consider legal action after she resigned and declined to discuss the IRS actions against private citizens, Mr. Issa went on, Politico reported.
Ms. Lerner admitted her division had paid extra attention to applications from groups with tea party in their names at the request of her boss, Politico reported. But she denied that her Democratic leanings influenced her scrutiny of conservative groups though Republicans have released emails showing that perhaps the opposite, in some cases, was true, Politico reported.
Mr. Issa is not the only Republican to criticize Ms. Lerner for speaking to the press, rather than Congress.
House Speaker John Boehners staff posted a blog blasting her claim to Politico that shes not sorry for anything I did, she said, in the article.
Thanks to President Obama and his cadre of cover-up artists, we still dont know what exactly that entailed, Mr. Boehners blog read, Politico reported.
And Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the IRS Oversight subcommittee, said Ms. Lerners interview with Politico was a poke in the eye to the American citizens who were targeted by the IRS, Politico reported.
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GOP fumes as Lois Lerner talks to press but snubs Congress
Cry us a river, Lois Lerner
Former Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner cited the Fifth...
Everyone in Washington has a P.R. machine, or at minimum, an agenda. That's certainly the case with Lois Lerner, the former IRS executive whose division targeted conservative nonprofit applicants with delays and harassment.
Lerner's division of the IRS systematically obstructed and denied status to Tea Party groups while subjecting many of the smallest ones those most vulnerable and least likely to be lawyered up to inappropriate demands for information that was not legally required. In one case, this included the content of the opening prayer recited in meetings, and in others, this IRS Inquisition demanded that leaders of certain groups pledge never to run for office.
Lerner is out of that business now, and on to a new campaign. This campaign, in which she has enlisted friends and former colleagues, aims to tell the side of the story that she has refused to give Congress under oath.
The resulting Politico piece includes this is no joke the revelations that she once baked brownies for colleagues and that she loves dogs. How delightful for her and the dogs! But so what? Lerner cited the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions about her involvement in this scandal. The reason for doing that is that she believes her answers could facilitate a criminal prosecution against her. The mysterious destruction of evidence in this case strongly suggests she is right to worry about that. So does her concerned email inquiry to government IT workers as to whether her instant messages with colleagues could ever be obtained by congressional investigators.
Lerner is willing to testify only in the news media, where the whole truth is not required and irrelevant information can be shared to make her seem less unsympathetic.
But Lerner's complaints about her treatment, her inability to find a job to supplement her pension, and her legal bills fall flat. She and her attorneys complain that the disparaging opinions she once expressed by email about conservatives, later obtained by Congress, should not be used against her. It would be unreasonable, she and her defenders point out, to expect her not to have opinions.
She is correct, America is a free country where all may express their views. But then, that's precisely why Lerner finds herself in so much hot water. Her IRS division used government power to suppress the political opinions of others to make private citizens unfree to express opinions she does not like.
If liberals are so irked that conservatives have freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to spend their own money on advocacy, there is a proper channel for their frustration. They can weaken or even abolish the First Amendment to the Constitution. Democrats tried this in the U.S. Senate earlier this month, and good for them it is the right of every elected official to take such a political risk, because voters can hold such officials accountable.
But it's quite another thing for powerful, entrenched and unaccountable bureaucrats to abuse their power and attack others' constitutional rights from deep within the intestines of the government. This is why Lerner now finds herself a pariah, and it's also why she isn't a victim.
Assistant to DeKalb CEO Ellis invokes 5th Amendment 30 times
4:43 p.m. The lead attorney for DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, Craig Gillen, asked for a mistrial after Ellis former assistant testified.
Gillen said Hall prejudiced the jury after invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself 30 times.
Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson rejected Gillens request.
Court is in recess until 9 a.m. Tuesday.
4:34 p.m. Nina Hall, an assistant to DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself 30 times during testimony Monday.
Most of those times, Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson ordered Hall to answer the questions. Hall wasnt required to testify about whether she had accepted money from vendors or perjured herself before a special grand jury.
Hall said Ellis was upset that Joanne Wise, who worked for a technology contractor called Ciber Inc., hadnt returned his phone calls for campaign contributions.
He was angry they had not returned his phone call, that there was no excuse for them not having returned his phone call, Hall told jurors. He indicated he was going to tell their boss they provided poor customer service and they were rude.
3:47 p.m. A former assistant to DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, Nina Hall, will have to testify but she can assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to some questions, Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson ruled.
Johnson said Hall can be asked about a conversation with Ellis that she overheard, and she can be asked to identify Ellis handwriting.
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Assistant to DeKalb CEO Ellis invokes 5th Amendment 30 times